February 24, 2004

Name:

Jocelyn

Age:

Six months old

Gender:

Female

Kind:

Chicken

Home:

Carlock, Illinois, USA

Jocelyn
is a very special little hen. Actually, she's a pullet until she
lays her first egg. I knew she was special from the moment she hatched.
I helped her out of the egg, and an hour later I put Mara, the mommy
hen, on the floor to eat and watched the babies while she was down.
Jocelyn kept peeping contentedly and trying to crawl up to me. When she
got older she would sit in my hand and just watch me. I had a very
special friend stop by my farm to see the chickens and she really liked
this baby chicken. She held her and petted her real gingerly. I named
her Jocelyn after that friend. Jocelyn is really sweet, loves to talk
and eat 'people food', and loves to tag along with me in the shop. In
the picture she is sitting in her favorite spot - atop the drill press.
She just watches. Sometimes she startles easily though, so you have to
calm her down.

I bring her in at night and wrap her in an old towel and she peaks out
from under it and watches the TV. She likes Sci-Fi shows the best. When
she has to go bathroom, she gets anxious and starts talking a lot. I
take her outside and she goes. Yes, a house-trained chicken! And it came
naturally too.

Her lineage goes back almost 30 years on our farm. I have four other
hens and two roosters with the same color patterns. I call them the
"Melody Variety" because it all goes back to a very special hen named
Melody - she was the first. Melody was Jocelyn's great-great-great-great
grandmother. And actually, Jocelyn came to me by pure chance. Mara was
just starting to sit on a clutch of eggs and that day one of my older
hens happened to lay an egg. As she did not have any offspring, I placed
the egg under Mara. Had I not been in the chicken coop when Cynthia laid
that egg, I would not have known to set it. Someone was watching out for
her from the beginning (maybe it was Melody). Jocelyn wants to just say
"Hi" and wants you to notice all the gorgeous feathers she has. She has
a 'hat,' chin and cheek feathers, shank (leg) feathers, and toe
feathers. She is fluff literally from head to toe!!